Getting Leopards into Ukrainian hands isn't as easy as rolling them across the border from friends farther West in Europe. defence analyst specializing in land warfare. Its main weapon is a 120-mm smooth bore gun, and it has a fully-digital fire-control system.ĭuration 5:14 Ukraine has been fighting a defensive battle so far and will need tanks from Western allies to recapture ground lost during the Russian invasion, says Nicholas Drummond, U.K. Its earliest version first came into service in 1979 and there are now four main variants. The 50-tonne tank requires a crew of four and has a range of about 500 kilometres, with top speeds of about 68 kilometres per hour. Germany's Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, the manufacturer of the Leopard 2, touts it as "the world's leading battle tank," that for nearly a half-century has combined aspects of firepower, defence, speed and manoeuvrability, making it adaptable to many types of combat situations. Here's a look at what those tanks might mean for Ukraine's defence against Russian forces. And Germany is not ruling out supplying such tanks to Ukraine itself, cautioning however that the implications of such a step need to be carefully weighed.
Over the weekend, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Berlin would not get in the way if Poland - arguably Ukraine's most vocal supporter among European Union neighbours - wants to ship Leopard 2 tanks from its arsenal across the border into Ukraine. Following intense pressure from its allies, Germany appears to be inching toward approving deliveries of high-tech Leopard 2 main battle tanks that Ukraine and its biggest Western backers hope will boost Kyiv's fight against Russian invaders.
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